


A Promise of Change

by midnightfeast



Category: Naruto
Genre: Abusive Father, Alternate Universe, F/M, Family, Female Senju Tobirama, Friends to Lovers, Protective Siblings, Royalty, Sexism, Slow Burn, Strangers to Friends, this will deal with serious topics
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:01:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27631097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/midnightfeast/pseuds/midnightfeast
Summary: As a poor farmer's daughter in a mysoginistic society, Tobirama hadn't expected to make friends with a nobleman.Nor could she have forseen the lengths Madara would go to, to keep a promise.For those of you that read it once, I'm sorry, it will change a lot. Not so much in topic and approach, but very much in plot. I basically took the entire thing apart, changed it entirely and stretched it (a lot) and made it better (in my opinion).Also: Updates will be slow. And this will get long and I'm reworking it entirely.
Relationships: Senju Tobirama/Uchiha Madara
Comments: 14
Kudos: 45





	A Promise of Change

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here we go again! I'm nervous as heck! 
> 
> In general: this universe mixes real life things like plants and animals with some I made up. (Nothing supernatural, it was just my way to create a more divers world without having to have intrinsic knowledge in herbs and plants myself.)  
> This is a made up world. One with more than one moon for example and different cultures. They'll come up eventually.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm incredibly nervous to restart this. Sorry, for uploading this only to take it down and now reuploading it and changing it completely...
> 
> I'll take my time with it to finally turn it into the story I wanted to write originally. As I said, the plot will be very different, only some bits you might recognise. Tone and theme will be similar, but the plot changes... a lot I would say, not so much in this chap, but from here on...  
> For example, Madara and Tobirama will take way way longer to sort their shit and jump from `You're a stranger´ to `You're my closest friend and confidant´ to `I may actually like you - potentially - more than a friend... maybe...´
> 
> Is this something you even want to read? I might just write it for myelf on my laptop otherwise :E 
> 
> Sorry, I'm just really unsure. I don't want to disappoint you or myself, so... well... when i first uploaded it it was actually the first real story I'd ever written and I was way too nervous and tried to make everything complex and fast, which is generally not a good combination.  
> I love this story, I want to give it the time it deserves so this will take a while. 
> 
> I uploaded this first chapter now to finally get a good grip on it again and sort my thoughts. I might procrastinate forever otherwise, so you've been warned, there's no set upload schedule, but do know that I'm very committed to this story and want to see it through till the end! But I repeat: Uploads might be slow and irregular! 
> 
> As always, I'm not a professional, in any regard. And english isn't my first language, so you know, mistakes happen.

Tobirama woke when Hashirama threw the blankets back and in the dim light of the risen moons, she could see him hurry into the hallway. Tobirama stood more silently and made sure not to disturb Kawarama and Itama who had curled against each other on their half of the mattress.

The hallway was too dark to see.

Father was still asleep.

Tobirama knew, because she had silently made her way to his door to press her ear against the fine slit between door and frame and had listened, but nothing aside snoring she could hear.

So she felt along the wall to stop in front of the bathroom.

“Hashirama.” Tobirama kept her voice low and knocked silently. The sound of dry heaving and someone throwing up were clear enough even through the wooden planks.

She could hear Hashirama groan, but he gave no sign of protest so she opened the door softly.

A single candle he had managed to light on the windowsill by his side, otherwise it would have been too dark to see.

Hashirama leant against the wall at the back of the room and looked miserable. Hair barely kept in a messy braid, flushed cheeks, hazy eyes and the bucket he had just thrown up in between his legs.

“Tobi.” He sniffled. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to wake you.”

She drew the door close softly. Their father might be asleep for now, but she did not want to wake him.

“What’s done is done.” Tobirama felt his sweaty forehead. “You’re fevering. Is there still enough mixture for another tea?”

He only moaned exhausted and nodded, kept his head low and sweat pearled on his forehead. “Should be by the cups.”

“Okay.” She stood and wetted a cloth they used as a towel in their fresh water bucket. “You really shouldn’t have tried these mushrooms.”

“I know.” He sighed. “They looked delicious though. And so much like perpers. I could’ve sworn they were eatable.”

Hashirama was not a moron. But sometimes he made moronic decisions.

Tobirama gave him a flat glance as she wrung the fabric a second time just to be sure it was not soaking wet. Hashirama’s head lulled back as she gave it to him, it hit the wall with a silent thud and he groaned and closed his eyes.

She pulled away his bucket and gave him a new one for the time being.

Hashirama probably didn’t even notice, the towel covered his entire face and his movement was sluggish.

She discarded the content into the hole in the floor meant for waste and scooped fresh water into the bucket with a ladle to wash it out twice. When Hashirama was healthy again, they’d have to properly clean the insides with soap, but for now this had to be enough.

She placed it back down at his side, nudged his head reassuringly and felt his forehead again. “I’ll go and heat water. Will you be fine on your own for now?”

He made a somewhat affirmative sound and so Tobirama left.

Aside from soft sounds of wind rushing around the walls, the house was silent. Tobirama had stopped to listen before she went to the other side of their small house and pulled open the door to their half-open kitchen.

Tobirama was no friend of cold nights like these. Her breath came out in small puffs of misty air. The window behind the stove was only covered by a wooden panel and metal rods, but cold air could seeped in through the cracks anyway.

The clothes she wore to sleep in were not thick enough to protect her from the cold, but it would have to do.

Tobirama lowered the panel to lighten up the working surface.

She would have found her way without. Their smaller clay stove had a definite location in their shelf, but to start a fire, feed and fan the flames till they were strong enough to set up a pot was nothing Tobirama enjoyed to do in the dark.

Their indoor kitchen felt heated in contrast. Their fresh water bucket was nearly empty, but it would be enough for breakfast at least.

When she went back into the bathroom, Hashirama had laid down and huffed silently. He didn’t move or make a sound even when Tobirama crouched next to him.

Only when Tobirama gently shook his shoulder, did he groan.

Worry was an emotion carefully kept to herself with only her brothers to see on the rare occasion. “Hashirama?”

“My stomach hurts.” The towel moved from atop his eyes and he looked at her. “This must be what female bleeding feels like.”

Tobirama allowed herself to laugh quietly and rested her hand atop his brow to brush away his sweaty strands. “We should move to the kitchen. I don’t want father to wake.”

He would rage for disturbing his sleep. The bathroom was too close to his room. With the kitchen, they would get a bit of distance between them at least.

Thankfully, Hashirama was able to stand and move. Had he been too weak to move balanced on his own, Tobirama was not sure whether she’d managed to steer them anywhere without waking the entire house.

The indoor kitchen was lightened dimly by the lesser moons.

Even in spring, nights were never fully dark. Light shone in threw the uneven glass panels. With the door open to keep an eye on their stove, the small fire flickered and churned with the draft of the wind that roared through the bars.

Hashirama settled on the floor next to the backdoor and their muddy shoes. He felt for the door’s handle and opened it far enough to let in a draw of cooling night air to cool his heated face.

Tobirama threw him a glance, but he seemed contempt for the time being so she left him alone.

Hashirama’s herbal tea, which would elevate some of the symptoms of mushroom poisoning, smelled of mint and ginger, more exotic herbs too that Hashirama had brought from his pharmacy specifically for this.

Tobirama made sure to carefully measure two teaspoons into their deceased grandmother’s teapot. It was small, grey and well used, with a patina of tea that sealed the cracks the ceramic otherwise would’ve cracked from.

The water simmered so she carefully poured it and left it to brew.

When she turned to eye Hashirama through the door, he was shivering and had drawn his long legs closer to his body, so she hurried closer to tilt up his head and look at his pupils for any disparities. “Are you okay?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “Just really not feeling great.”

That Tobirama believed in an instant.

“You should take out the herbs.” He mentioned, covering his eyes and leaning back. “Anything with Espin shouldn’t steep to long or it’ll cause hallucinations.”

Tobirama gave him a last onceover and stood. “Right. A single spoon of Ichotsu-syrup?”

“Yes, only one.”

She poured it through a sieve into a mug.

The less frequently used ingredients they kept in an outside storage, but the Ichotsu still stood behind pots and pans. They had wanted to make sure to have it at hand for Hashirama, but anything out of place angered father, so they tended to hide things where he would never look.

She covered the fire, closed the panel, took the mug and closed the door behind herself.

Tobirama placed the mug on the floor in front of Hashirama alongside a cup of water which he downed in one go.

“More?” Tobirama asked and Hashirama nodded.

She got him more and sat next to him.

The draft of air pulled under her sleeping shirt, but there was no chance for her to feel cold, because Hashirama’s fevering body leaned against her side and his especially warm head rested on her shoulder.

“Promise me to never do something so reckless again.”

His sign was long, but his nose nuzzled closer into her thin shirt. “Promise.”

“Good. It would be a horrible way to lose a brother to his own negligence.” She meant to sound more scolding, but the tone of concern was strong enough for him to hear it underneath.

“I’m sorry.” He sounded like he actually meant it. “I honestly thought I had looked at them close enough.”

“Next time, let me classify them too.”

They sat there for a while until Hashirama sat up and drank.

The smell of Ichotsu mixed in with any herbal tea was off-putting, but the taste must have been worse, because Hashirama pulled a face but drank every last sip anyway.

His head rolled back with a sigh and eventually, his temple pressed against Tobirama’s shoulder again. “If you can sleep, you should.”

He hummed a vague agreement, but his breathing acctually evened a short while after.

Tobirama stayed awake and watched the tree tops sway with the wind and the stars in the sky shift with time’s passing.

The biggest of the lesser moons had just vanished behind the furthest mountain range when Hashirama stirred again and Tobirama looked at him concerned. “How are you feeling?”

“Better, but still achy.” He felt along the back of his neck and something cracked. “Your shoulders are so bony, my neck is stiff now.”

She could've given him the evil eye, but Hashirama was right, for her age and height, she was too thin.

“Let’s get you to bed then.” Tobirama stood and took away the mug and glass.

Hashirama sighed and then groaned as he burried his head in his hands. “I have to make my delivery to the pharmacy tomorrow.”

“And you only just remembered now?” For that, Tobirama earned herself a suffering pout.

Hashirama was the apprentice of a pharmacist in the city down in the valley and he delivered medical plants that only grew in the altitude of their mountain and was taught in exchange. They had to be fresh on delivery, so tonight and tomorrow night they would have to pick them.

At this point in his education there was not a lot he needed to be taught and at the end of summer he would take a fulltime position when one of the other pharmacists retired.

As careless as he could be with everything else, with his herbs and medical plants Hashirama was attentive. Tobirama was not as knowledgeable as Hashirama, but he had shown her enough.

“I’ll go.” Tobirama handed him a glass of water which he drank obediently. “Come on now.”

Hashirama sighed, but he was steadier on his feet and they made it back to their room silently.

Kawarama and Itama were still soundly asleep and Hashirama settled under the blanket next to them.

Ever since Hashirama had had his latest growth spurt he had to duck under their doorways and the mattress the four of them shared was getting too small.

Tobirama’s outdoor clothing still rested neatly folded on top of her wooden chest.

Most of her shirts and pants were baggy and used to belong to Hashirama, all in dark or earthy colours and slightly discoloured and tinged from age.

They didn’t have a lot of thick clothes, only two or three woollen pullovers and robes, so it was more important to layer clothing.

It had been silent for so long, Tobirama was sure Hashirama had fallen asleep, but when she fastened the belt of her wide cloth pants under an even wider cloth shirt, Hashirama whispered. “Thanks Tobi.” It was light enough that Tobirama could make out the way he had rolled over towards Itama and Kawarama to shield them from the door. “I wouldn’t know what to do without you.”

She gave his foot a nudge with her own when she passed. “Sleep Hashirama, I’ll be back with your plants before lunch.”

Tobirama found Hashirama’s things neatly prepared in the yard by the open storage.

His reed basket was a bit too big for her back, but that would not bother her. His knifes were sharp and she bound the pouch around her hip.

They had small packets of food prepared to be taken and eaten on the go, mostly riceballs cooked and wrapped in leaves, filled with preserved vegetables or small bits of meat.

But last year’s harvest, autumn and winter, had been scarce for multiple reasons. Their food storage was filled with chilisauce and pickled vegetables, but most of the foods rich in nutrients were gone.

They had already had to slaughter more sheep and cattle than they had wanted to.

That spring so far had been mild and broke in early had the entire village hope for an early spring harvest of new potatoes and radish, spring onions and wild greens.

Like this, at least their animals would have lavish meadows to graze from.

Tobirama set out into the forest that surrounded the Senju’s village. It was made up by 42 houses nestled onto a mountain plateau, marbled with fields of rice, wheat and potatoes, vegetable gardens and yards, barns and storage buildings. A market space and a small shrine make up the centre.

Her goal was a clearing rich in alpine flowers that laid another 1000 feet above their settlement, but the path there was small and winded. Forest covered the surrounding mountain sides.

Still, the woods were mostly silent. The earlier birds would sing soon though, now the only sound was the rustling in the surrounding bushes from small nocturnal wildlife.

The wind howled through the trunks and scattered leaves all over, drove against her bare hands and had her the already dry skin of her hands become more brittle.

The smallest of the lesser moons was still a good handbreadth above the furthest mountain peak and only once he vanished the first rays of the sun would flood their lands.

So another three hours for her to scale mostly in dim light and frozen leaves, through young green bushes and bare trees.

Even though, it was not light enough for Tobirama to be able to make out any details, but the plants she came for glowed like burning incense sticks. Only once their stems were severed did their light fade.

Now and again, a set of morel mushrooms peaked through the dead leaves and she took them too.

The first ray of their major sun rose above the mountain’s peak right as Tobirama’s knife cut through thick branches to clear a path onto the mountain’s highest plateau.

Mist and frozen dew still settled over the pasture of young greens and filtered the first raise of golden morning sun that fell on the only manmade shelter on this side of the mountain.

Birds of all kind skittered around and sang.

Right at the edge to a bare mountain cliff grew a greenish white flower that she had come for. Between lose rocks and cracks in the otherwise smooth stone they grew and they were important in close to every drug used to fight infection.

Hashirama was careful to keep them intact, so Tobirama made sure to not damage their leaves.

They never took more than necessary.

To leave enough so that the population could sustain was important, as with most other things they took from nature, it would be self-inflicted damage to be greedy. 

From her position on the field of scree, Tobirama could oversee most of the valley and the city that stretched along the mountains’ feet, but nothing aside smoke and tiny spekles of light she could see. It was simply too far to make out any detail.

For late spring or early summer, the Senju’s farmers wrangled their sheep and cattle to this lot. She would be on rotation sooner or later too.

After a lean winter, they would need the rich herbs here even more.

Tobirama washed her soil covered hands in the small stream that parted the plateau. Thin plates of ice made the stones more slippery and the water was chilling on her bloody and cut fingers.

They had a salve for skin recovery, one that brought moisture back and healed, but she did not have it with her.

A mistake she hadn't made in years, but there was no reason to dwell on frustration when there was nothing to be done about it..

Tobirama refilled her leather drinking pouch and drank before refilling it once more for the trip back.

She went on with cleaning her knifes that were partly covered in sticky sap and covered in mud. This part was what she had to focus on meticulously, because when some of these secrets dried, they became too firm to scrub off. But the metal cooled with the icy water and hurt more on her already numb fingers.

It was not until she put away the last blade that the silence became noticeable. The birds around her had vanished and ceased their singing. The mountain was never quite this silent.

Something was up.

Cracking branches alerted her to several deer bolting threw the underwood, so Tobirama rose, careful to look around.

No one aside her should be up here and she had seen nobody when she entered the clearing. If somebody from the village had followed she would have noticed.

So who was the stranger that stood in front of the shed and stared at her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, if you like, I'd love to know what you think.
> 
> Uploads will be irregular.


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